Monologue of Communication as a Problem of School Atomization: A Hermeneutic View

Abstract

The article focuses on atomism in education through the prism of understanding and communication which provide the basis for the hermeneutic approach. The author offers a detailed insight into monologue peculiar to the educational system as the main cause of atomistic communication in a school. It reveals it­self through the transfer of human achievements from teacher to student at all levels (semantic, target, content, technological). The sameness of prepared infor­mation for transferring to diverse learners presupposes the sameness of learners answers as the outcome. Monologue leads to a lack of understanding (increasing distance) expressed by learners themselves, other people and the surrounding en­vironment. Consequently, it disintegrates, or atomizes, classroom communica­tion as a sphere of educational conversation. It also reduces motivation for self-knowledge, environmental perception and cognition. Unfamiliar or irrelevant in­formation addressed to learners without their realizing its meanings, goals or a clear answer to the question “Why should I learn it?” creates distance between the Self and the Other, between the subject and the object. One of the solutions to overcome atomism in schools is to improve “pedagogical integrity” that means building dialogue in education. It means that methodological and method­ical dominants lie in the learners interest but not the teachers. The article reveals didactic aspects of learners silence which develop their ability to learn about themselves through self-knowledge and self-cognition.